


A Crewman's Guide to Winter

by palomino333



Category: Original Work
Genre: Athletes, Cold Weather, Gen, Pain, Poetry, Rowing, Winter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-17
Updated: 2015-10-17
Packaged: 2018-04-26 18:01:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5014678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/palomino333/pseuds/palomino333
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"NEVER ROW" -- Georgetown University Rowing Association Motto (GURA)</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Crewman's Guide to Winter

Check the temperature  
18?  
Warm enough  
Grab your gloves

Frost cakes the boat side  
Stand on your toes  
Grasp the strap tight  
Tug it hard and unravel

Place your finger on the plastic latch  
It slipped off  
Grab it again  
Ignore the frozen eight frame

Your body presses against  
Cold fingers crawl up your ribs  
Hiss and cry  
The frost branding your hands

Coil the strap  
Drop it  
Wait for the call  
"Hands on!"

Grit your teeth  
Raise your arms  
A chilling wind slices  
No cringing!

Back straight  
Come on, lean further  
Press against the icy frame  
Curl your fingers around

"Switch to shoulders!  
And down!"  
Squint your eyes  
Bend your elbows

It crashes to your shoulder  
Bite your lip  
Straighten your legs  
Take one step

Groan  
The gunnel stabs your shoulder  
Another, slow  
Watch your feet

A pang shoots up your heel  
You walked too slow  
"Watch, you're skidding!"  
Down one, up one

Your foot on the dock  
Spin your heel  
Whimper at the twist  
Not much farther now

Careful, it shakes  
Knees wobbling  
The black water laps  
"Ready to roll!"

Push it up again  
No whining now  
"And roll!"  
Easy, don't fall

Into the darkness  
It splashes up at you  
Gasp, pull back  
Brush off the frost from your spandex

Practice can begin

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote this back when I was still part of a crew team. The prompt in my creative writing course was to write about the nitty-gritty details of an occupation or leisurely pursuit that others were unfamiliar with, hence, crew.
> 
> 18 degrees Fahrenheit (approx. -7.78 degrees Celsius, approx. 265.37 degrees Kelvin) was the coldest temperature I was ever forced to row in. Looking back, my coach could have gotten into serious trouble for making us go out there, considering the water temperature would have been low enough to give us hypothermia, had we fallen in. It was so cold that day that any and all water droplets that fell on my spandex pants turned to frost within minutes.
> 
> The worst part? We weren't allowed to wear gloves. Quite a few of us were sobbing in pain from the frostbite. The problem was that the coach had the boat I was in sit there and wait for her out in the water for fifteen minutes, which caused our limbs to lock up, and for us to become colder much more quickly.
> 
> I don't regret a day I spent on the crew team, but that definitely was not a day to go out safely for practice.


End file.
